Virtualbox 1.2.x no longer meets Debian's guidelines for free software (dfsg]), therefore the packages have been dropped from "main" and are only distributed through contrib. In case you need virtualbox (if your hardware supports VT-x/ SVM, qemu(-kvm) is usually a better choice), you'll have to extend your sources.list to include contrib.

kenyee

Post subject: RE: virtualbox Posted: 20.05.2013, 16:00

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slh: don't you mean VirtBox 2.1.x? 1.2.x would be ancient...

sid.dharta

Post subject: RE: virtualbox Posted: 21.05.2013, 08:12

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I think slh meant 4.2.x
AFAIK the version currently in sid is 4.2.10 and it is actually distributed through "contrib" while the stable version (4.1.18) is in "main".

DeepDayze

Post subject: RE: virtualbox Posted: 23.05.2013, 13:57

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What about using the packages supplied by Oracle, if you need the latest vbox (at least until then)?

DonKult

Post subject: RE: virtualbox Posted: 23.05.2013, 15:03

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It's unlikely that virtualbox will move back to 'main' anytime soon. If you want to use it where is nothing wrong about using it from 'contrib' though. Its at least better than using third-party packages as they aren't supported via the normal channels (no updates via APT, no Debian-specific updates to make it work, …)

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DeepDayze

Post subject: Re: RE: virtualbox Posted: 24.05.2013, 15:41

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sid.dharta wrote:

I think slh meant 4.2.x
AFAIK the version currently in sid is 4.2.10 and it is actually distributed through "contrib" while the stable version (4.1.1 is in "main".

The most recent version upstream (Oracle) is 4.2.12 and no updated package(s) yet in contrib

DonKult

Post subject: RE: Re: RE: virtualbox Posted: 24.05.2013, 18:23

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Sure, if you need 4.2.12 now… What I meant is that 4.2.10 is in contrib and the following versions will be there, too¹. So if you were satisfied with what Debian provided in main all these years, you can just add contrib (if you haven't already, and many will for wlan-firmware and stuff) and are back on usual track.

¹ (at least until we have an EFI-only virtualbox for main or a opensource BIOS compiler – whatever comes first)

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